Boeing Office & Electronics Laboratory Facility
Thirty laboratories were operating across multiple locations, each built around its own requirements.
Power systems varied. Grounding approaches conflicted. Some labs relied on single-point grounding. Others used equipotential systems. High-frequency equipment had been installed independently over time. Power demand alone exceeded what a typical commercial facility is designed to support.
Bringing those operations into one facility was not a space problem. It was a system problem.
Guernsey was selected to master plan a 40-acre campus and design a 316,000 SF office and electronics laboratory facility to consolidate those environments.
The schedule did not allow for iteration. Design moved in 20 weeks. Construction followed in 11 months.
The building had to support secure operations, specialized electronics laboratories, and a mix of office and collaboration space. At the same time, the site required full infrastructure development, including utilities, circulation, and more than 1,200 parking spaces.
The defining work happened early.
Each laboratory’s requirements were evaluated against the others. Where systems conflicted, those conflicts were resolved before design advanced. A single electrical and infrastructure strategy was developed to support multiple grounding approaches, high-load demand, and specialized equipment within one coordinated facility.
That decision changed how the facility works.
Instead of repeating isolated systems, distribution was centralized. Independent high-frequency systems within individual labs were replaced with shared infrastructure. Grounding strategies were integrated into a single compliant system. Equipment that would typically be duplicated across spaces was consolidated.
The electrical system was designed for loads well beyond standard commercial conditions and coordinated to perform under those demands. System coordination was engineered below 0.1 seconds, with arc flash exposure maintained under 40 cal/cm².
Reliability was addressed through the infrastructure itself. Multiple utility feeds were brought to the site, eliminating the need to rely on on-site emergency generation and requiring close coordination with the local utility provider.
The campus and the building were planned together. Utilities, circulation, and expansion were coordinated from the outset so the site and facility operate as one system.
Thirty laboratories now operate within a single environment that supports how they work, not how they were originally built.
The project was delivered on an accelerated schedule without separating the building from the systems behind it.
It received the ACEC Grand Conceptor Award and national recognition in Washington, D.C.
This type of work is defined early. When conflicting requirements are carried forward, complexity accumulates. When they are resolved at the outset, the system holds
Recognition
- ACEC Grand Conceptor Award
- National recognition in Washington, D.C.